Happy Birthday HCA!

Hans Christian Andersen by David Levine

Today - April 2nd - is the birthday of beloved literary fairy tale writer, Hans Christian Andersen. Born in 1805, he would have been 209 this year.

I saw this drawing by well known political and newspaper cartoonist David Levine and thought it went very well with one of Andersen's famous sayings, taken out of his autobiographical fairy tale, The Ugly Duckling:

"Being born in a duck yard does not matter, 

as long as you are hatched from a swan's egg!"

Speculation suggests that Andersen was the illegitimate son of prince Christian Frederik (later King Christian VIII of Denmark), and found this out some time before he wrote the book, and then that being a swan in the story was a metaphor not just for inner beauty and talent but also for secret royal lineage. (Edit FTNH: Theories still persist that Andersen was the bastard son of King Christian VII of Denmark.)
Bruno Bettelheim observes in The Uses of Enchantment that the Ugly Duckling is not confronted with the tasks, tests, or trials of the typical fairy tale hero. “No need to accomplish anything is expressed in “The Ugly Duckling”. Things are simply fated and unfold accordingly, whether or not the hero takes some action.” In conjunction with Bettelheim’s assessment, Maria Tatar notes in ’’The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen’’ that Andersen suggests the Ugly Duckling‘s superiority resides in the fact that he is of a breed different from the barnyard rabble, and that dignity and worth, moral and aesthetic superiority are determined by nature rather than accomplishment. (Source: Wikipedia)

Of course, that didn't stop Andersen from trying to accomplish as much as he could manage, to continually improve on his achievements and forever seek out recognition and acceptance. At the time of his death, however, he was already considered a National Treasure. And now, over 200 years later, he is even more beloved all over the world.

"Frozen": My SHORT Review (yes a longer one is coming soon) & the Elusive (but important) HCA Fairy Tale Reference

Note: I wrote most of my long review (of which this is an excerpt) at the beginning of December and am now finishing it at the end of the month/beginning of January. 

Well into the rounds of critical acclaim and nominations for multiple awards, I finally got to see Frozen, with the added bonus of my six-year old son coming along so I could see his reaction to it as well. And now, my review (the short version):

So.. it's not perfect. Structurally it leaves a lot to be desired and the songs felt rather "front loaded" but it was beautiful, no, actually it was gorgeous (even if it was hard to forget the main girls weren't actually dolls). It was also generally entertaining. And I have to take back every bad thing I ever said about the little snowman He was spot on - his humor was just the right amount of gentle comic relief and not at all the obnoxious character I completely feared he would be. Instead, without him the film would have suffered. My son now adores Olaf and I have a feeling Santa will be hunting down a big one for him for Christmas now... (Update: Santa came through and my son couldn't have been happier.)

I was also happily pleased to see a lot of the script* was well executed. (Note: by "script" I mean the dialogue as opposed to the story and plot construction, which is a different thing.) There weren't too many cliches, although it was a little heavy on the "tell" instead of letting the animation "show" us what we should know/be feeling, and the colloquialisms ("Wait, what?") got a little irksome. The story, however, while generally a good approach (yay, a sister story!), still had some pretty big holes, and a few cheats too which is a shame - just a few additional lines, some extra seconds of plot here and there would have taken this from a 3.5 star to a 5 star movie for me (I'll explain more in the long version of my review). 

One gigantic problem though: despite whatever the Directors insist in their interviews, this is not Anna's story but Elsa's. While Anna is a great character and we care very much about what happens to her, she doesn't have to change or learn anything of substance during the course of the movie. Elsa, on the other hand is a complicated, tragic character with a lot of pain, a lot to lose and has to go through a huge arc of change. Ironically, Elsa was like a personification of HCA's story (not to mention the Disney title) and could have embodied all its essence. That they didn't recognize this and adjust the movie accordingly is telling. (More on this in the long review.)

Elsa's, seemingly accidental development into a character of serious substance, is also the reason Disney is now unlikely to ever tackle an animated Wicked. Elsa/Elphaba - they really do share far more than just their voices...

So what about the Hans Christian Andersen Snow Queen references? Well, yes - I DID find some! Of course you have the "Queen" who can manipulate ice and snow and, of course, the vaguely used reference of a reindeer as a key helper/companion but the main fairy tale nod actually was quite key to the story. So much so, in fact, I'm going to have to tuck that part of the review under the jump as it contains spoilers...
✒ ✒ (SPOILERS AHEAD! Click the "Read more" link below for the HCA reference SPOILER AHEAD!) ✒ ✒

"Tinder" by Sally Gardner

It's a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Tinder Box! One of my favorite fairy tales!! And it was released this last week!!! *flails arms in excitement and corrects multiple typos before continuing*

I came across note of this rather randomly, and since I'm not focused on keeping up with books (there are so many wonderful things happening in fairy tale retelling land all the time, there could be daily news just on those), but it didn't take long to figure out I am more than happy to recommend it.

Here's the write up from Ms. Gardner's website:

Tinder is a truly modern fairytale, at once cruel yet deeply enchanting. Sally Gardner chose to set her tale in the Thirty Years War after meeting two young British soldiers who had just returned from modern warfare and were finding civilian life difficult to deal with. They had nightmares and agreed they had never felt more alive than when out at the front. If there is one fairy story that encompasses the trauma of war and its aftermath, it is The Tinderbox and Sally has exquisitely captured these dark overtones in a tale of great love and great loss, accompanied by stunning illustrations by renowned illustrator David Roberts. 

Tinder follows the adventures of Otto Hundebiss, a soldier tired of war who defies death. A mysterious half-man, half-beast nurses him back to health, but continues on alone, leaving Otto only with some old shoes and a set of dice which will tell him the way forward. Stealing chickens and bread in order to survive, Otto is followed by a strange grey-cloaked man who can transform into a wolf. Hiding from the werewolf up a tree, he meets the enigmatic Safire and the two travel together until they are tragically separated. 

From then, Otto’s mission becomes clear and he rolls the dice in hopes that they will lead him back to her. He is soon plunged into an adventure of dark magic and mystery, meeting the scheming Mistress Jabber and the terrifying Lady of the Nail. He learns the power of the Tinderbox and becomes the master of wolves, yet even these powers may not be enough to bring him what he desires.

Firstly, the writer, Sally Gardner is an award winning author from the UK (you may recognize her name from I, Coriander), so I wasn't too surprised when I found an extract, read it and thought - "yep, good stuff, want more!"

Here's a taste from Chapter 1:

Once in a time of war, when I was a soldier in the Imperial Army, I saw Death walking. He wore upon his skull a withered crown of white bone twisted with green hawthorn. His skeleton was shrouded with a tattered cloak of gold and in his wake stood the ghosts of my comrades newly plucked, half-lived, from life. Many I knew by name.  

You can read more of the extract - with illustrations - HERE.

Secondly, the book is also illustrated by David Roberts; someone who's name may not be too familiar but there's a good chance you've seen his work in various places. What I've seen of the drawings in Tinder look wonderful and fit the prose perfectly. I'm not entirely sure that I'll get to see my beloved triplet canine characters with eyes as big as saucers, plates and platters but the giant wolves I've caught glimpses of, placate me a somewhat on this point. ;)

With the book just released there is a "blog tour" happening, with Ms. Gardner giving interviews and various insights about the book around the web. You can read one of them HERE and find a list of interviews and dates there too.

Ms. Gardner also wrote an introduction to fairy tales and how dark they can be, for scifinow, some of which sheds light on her inspiration and process for writing Tinder:

A good fairy tale takes us into the dark, dark woods of our imagination. From there we can go as deep into the forest as we dare or stay on the edge, looking at the trees. A fairy tale talks to our souls in a way few other stories have the power to do. It holds the heartbeat of our fears. 

... Perhaps what a good fairy tale shows us more than anything is its versatility. It may be retold and rewritten and still we recognize its origins. The Tinderbox by Hans Christian Andersen has always been one of my best beloved stories. He adapted a favourite childhood tale, The Spirit in the Candle, and added a dash of Aladdin. It is a wonderfully disjointed tale that travelled in the mind of its author who was twenty-nine years old before he wrote it down. 

Fairy tales should be frightening. Their nearest companions in literature are ghost stories. I love the dark retellings of Angela Carter, the fairy tales of Herman Hess, of the Italian writer Italo Calvino. 

It is not by chance that one of the greatest modern interpreters of fairy tales is Bruno Bettelheim for he was interned in a concentration camp where life is reduced to its barest bones. Fairy tales, under the cloak of a story, reveal the essentials of our lives. They project the trauma of adulthood onto young readers and show them a way of untangling its problems. 

“Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist; children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed.”G K Chesterton

You can read the whole of her introduction (recommended!) HERE.

Note: on the page you'll find a poll, asking you which of the following is your favorite "dark fairy tale", of which The Tinderbox is one. The introduction for fairy tales by Ms. Gardner is below it.

It's funny. I never thought of The Tinderbox as being particularly dark. Perhaps because I always had this naive idea that the dogs would protect the princess should any form of harm be offered her along the way to the soldier - or by him. Clearly my impression of good dogs extended to magical ones in fairy tales.

But I'm curious: of the list given, which one would you say is your favorite dark tale?

"Art of Frozen" Review by Artist/Illustrator Chris King (alt book title "This Could Have Been Frozen")

Note: Chris King's review is posted here in full by permission.

I asked Mr. King to repost this review here as it articulates a lot of how I feel about the movie and the concept art (which I had the privilege of seeing a little of, during one of the phases of it's lengthy on-again, off-again development). It's a book I'm very much looking forward to reading, to see the (mostly unsuccessful) journey in adapting the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale for the Disney animation "machine" as well as how and why they changed it from being a fairy tale into a fantasy adventure film (albeit a beautiful and fun looking one).

Now that I've seen the 3rd trailer, I do think there is more going for this film than any of the previous marketing had indicated, including a positive spin on female leads in feature animation, but I still believe it would have been revolutionary (especially for the current Princess Culture criticisms) had they managed to translate the essence of the fairy tale into a Disney film.

Happily, it seems as though the "tackling a fairy tale" aspect of the development and concept art is included (and discussed) in this book so I will add it to my library as soon as possible.

Here's the review from Christopher King, posted Thursday, November 7, 2013:

As a life-long animation fan, I fear that the Disney studio is currently stuck in some kind of creative lull. With each new feature I find myself less and less engaged, and have come to the conclusion that it’s all the fault of the homogenizing effect of CGI. While films like Brave and Wreck It Ralph are certainly technical feats (nor without any visual merit) to my old-fashioned 2D sensibilities they are lacking a sense of independence in their design that made 
Disney’s early output so beautiful and ultimately timeless. 

Which is why, when I first saw the impressive concept art contained within The Art of Frozen, I was encouraged to see the return to some of that magic. A return to traditional storytelling routes with a fairy tale based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, and a design ethos that (to me anyway) clearly references the incredible work of Eyvind Earle in Sleeping Beauty. It’s colour theory, folk art references, bold geometric landscapes and fantastic character designs from Bill Schwab all give promise of a particularly good-looking film to come. Michael Giaimo and Brittney Lee also feature with stand out with work that shares my taste for classic Disney. But as the shots from the finished film reveal, much of the charm is lost in their computer equivalent, leaving characters and ultimately a film without a visual language of its own. 

I have faith that Disney will return to more experimental visuals once the current trend changes (you can see something brewing in the great Paperman short) and viewing the brilliant work in The Art of Frozen only encourages me further. For what ever might be lost in the film I’m glad this book exists to allow a chance for this otherwise unseen work to shine. 

The Art of Disney’s Frozen by Charles Solomon 

Chronicle Books 

Hardback 168 pages

Thanks for the repost permission Mr. King!

You can find Christopher King's personal website and (seriously amazing!) work HERE. He's also posted a great review of Taschen's Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen book, complete with some great pics, HERE.

I very much agree with the comment regarding "the homogenizing effect of CGI". Despite all this incredible work coming to the big screen, everything still ends up looking and feeling rather the same. Disney's "female leads have to always look pretty" clause, has led to something rather like a formula for beauty, especially with regard to CGI, and still they pushed the design of the two sisters even further to make sure they stayed in the pretty zone. Apparently it's made them stand out - in a "not good" way - from the rest of the film. One of the criticisms of the film by media reps who have been treated to a full preview is that, despite liking the movie and appreciating the more feminist take than expected, the two female leads appear even more "plastic-y" than the rest of the characters and take quite a bit of getting used to as a result. :/

How beautiful are these pencil drawings?! Unfortunately, much of the subtlety is lost in the final film.

This speaks to one of my main beefs regarding Princess Culture: while playing make-believe is fun and princesses can  - and should - be part of that, the current Disney emphasis doesn't allow for any other type of strong heroine other than a (Disney version of a) princess. And there's been more than a little discussion around the interwebs about why Disney felt the need to push the characters into the royal zone to start with. For a country that prides itself on not being accountable to royalty, the obsession is a little bizarre, especially considering all the truly powerful female heroes the US has in their history to date.

Have you seen the parody one artist attempted by turning real female heroines into Disney princesses? It was his reaction to the "princessification" (apparently that's a word now) of Merida of Disney's marketing department, post movie-success. Unfortunately, the result of "princessifying"(also a new word) real life heroines was... not altogether successful. It's supposed to point out the absurdity of making all female leads fall within the Princess Culture model. In the artist's own words:

"I wanted to analyze how unnecessary it is to collapse a heroine into one specific mold, to give them all the same sparkly fashion, the same tiny figures, and the same homogenized plastic smile. My experience of female role models both in culture and in life has shown me that there is no mold for what makes someone a role model, and the whole point of Merida was that she was a step in the right direction, providing girls with an alternative kind of princess. Then they took two steps back, and painted her with the same glossy brush as the rest. So I decided to take 10 real-life female role models, from diverse experiences and backgrounds, and filter them through the Disney princess assembly line. The statement I wanted to make was that it makes no sense to put these real-life women into one limited template, so why then are we doing it to our fictitious heroines?"

While it's an excellent point, unfortunately the images began touring the interwebs WITHOUT the statement and the context got completely lost. Many people got confused and others began making disturbing statements talking about how cool it would be to have a line a dolls... Just bizarre. There's a good discussion on the whole subject - which is directly relevant to the heroines of Frozen - over at Jezebel. The comments below the article especially, show how confused people got over this. (Note to the artist: We love what you were trying to do, however, next time, please make sure the context can travel with the image.)

Why I bother bringing this up in a fairy tale news blog is because 1) the princess culture has a HUGE effect on how society views fairy tales and 2) to remind everyone that fairy tales have so many heroines who are not princesses - and Anna used to be one of them. Then she was put through the princess machine because, apparently, little girls wouldn't be as interested in dressing up (read buying "all the stuff") unless she could wear a crown. :(

In the meantime, despite the disappointingly plastic results and the loss-in-translation of the initial design work inspired by HCA's fairy tale, hopefully, as Mr. King says, this book will bear witness to the truly beautiful bones behind the film*, reminding us that there's more to this tale - even this movie - than will ultimately meet the eye in theaters.

If you're looking for the book in the store, the cover looks like this (see below). Pre-orders are available via Amazon (as usual) but you won't find it in stores until after December 3. Still, it would make for a very nice Christmahanakwanzikule present! ;)

*Does make me want to title it "This Could Have Been Frozen", though. O.o

"The Steadfast Tin Soldier" Comes to Life (Live Storytelling. With Paint! You Gotta See the Video - Just Amazing)

Being performed this weekend at the Sydney Opera House (in Australia) is a live storytelling - in words and paint (!) - of The Steadfast Tin Soldier by the German puppetry company Thalias Kompagnons. Instead of just using puppets though, this time around, the main storytelling medium is paint. Real, drippy, wet, squishy, live, colorful and amazing paint. This is the art of storytelling with Art!

I dearly wish I could take my son to see this. Actually, since I'm trying to incorporate a little storytelling in as I teach Art Appreciation to my son's class, this would be perfect to take all the kids to. (If we didn't have to pay for 26 return tickets to Oz, that is.) This would be a perfect introduction to the power of painting and art, as well as be an incredibly dynamic way to hear/see experience a fairy tale coming to life and discover the story of The Steadfast Tin Soldier. 

Although it's obviously a poor substitute for the live performance, there is a video, showing some of how the story is told. Take a look - it's quite amazing (and now I want to go paint!):

I get the strong feeling Hans Andersen would have LOVED this!

The promotional material about the performance reads:

In this delightful and imaginative retelling of the classic Hans Christian Anderson tale, our storyteller brings The Steadfast Tin Soldier to life with his vigorous live-painting techniques. 

On a large clear canvas, the story unfolds as a child’s nursery is sketched, coloured and painted. It’s here that the tin soldier steps out of line and falls in love with the tissue paper ballerina.  But all too soon, the peaceful scene is interrupted by the red goblin, and as the colours begin to fly, the adventure begins! 

In this unique performance, German company Thalias Kompagnons creates a joyful introduction to the creative techniques of both modern painting and live theatre. Enthralling, exciting and not always neat and tidy, The Steadfast Tin Soldier is sure to inspire the artist in all of us! 

On the company website I found this summary of the play, which explains why they chose live art-in-the-making as the medium for this performance:

On the play
	Painting is the art form which seems to be closest to children. They pick up crayons naturally and start using them, creating their own world, filled with a great variety of things. Who would not want to join them in this sphere of dreams? The fairy tale painter sketches a large nursery, decorating it with wondrous toys and figures. But as happens in painting – the image starts to develop its own life. Here a tin soldier who is the worse for wear steps out of line and falls in love with the tissue paper ballerina. The red goblin interferes. The image comes apart at the seams. Will the painter be steadfast and, together with the tin soldier, find a new path back to beauty? A joyful introduction to the creative techniques of modern painting which is not always neat and tidy. With his painted theatre productions, Joachim Torbahn has succeeded in creating an internationally admired novel synthesis between visual art and the theatre. He was invited to perform his homage to Paul Klee "What does Red do on Thursdays?" for children over four, at many festivals, including productions in Italy, Slovenia, Finland, Hungary, Russia, Corea, Japan and Australia.

As you might expect - the reviews are excellent. You can find more information about the company and the sort of shows they have HERE and read some of the reviews there too.

For those lucky enough to be local, you can find more information about times and tickets (which are very reasonably priced) HERE.

The presentation reminds me of seeing shows in shopping centers and malls when I was just beginning "big school" - a wonderful way to introduce the public to the power of storytelling and theater - and of turning up to dark mysterious theaters with no idea what I would see, only to be thoroughly entranced by what followed. Those experiences marked me for life in the best way and I wish there were more traveling and available I could take my son to experience (he's just started "big school" this year so it's very much on my mind).

Maybe one day there will be enough Once Upon A Blog readers in close proximity that we could actually put together something amazing ourselves (to be filed under "Big Dreams I Will Never Give Up On").

Lily Cole Dances The Red Shoes at 2013 London Fashion Week

"She danced, and she was forced to dance through the gloomy night. The shoes the the carried her over stack and stone; she was torn till she bled; she danced over the heath till she came to a little house. Here, she knew, dwelt the executioner, and she tapped with her fingers at the window, and said "Come out! Come out! I can not come in, for I am forced to dance! "

I know!

How unexpected but oh-so-appropriate too.

From London Fashion Week via XPOSEentertainment:

(Super model) Lily Cole opened Vivienne Westwood's latest show with an interpretive dance yesterday.
The fashion designer showed off her Spring/Summer 14 Red Label line at London Fashion Week and as has become the norm for her, it had a strong environmental message.
Lily's movements were inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Red Shoes and she wore a dramatic Grecian gown as she moved her body in a pool of red light.

From the Daily Mail:

Dame Westwood has always used her runway to promote her social and political ideals, and having worked with the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), Sunday was another opportunity to provoke change through fashion.And with Lily Cole, the designer has a good ally, who this year directed her first short film with Sky Rainforest rescue to inspire people to protect the environment and tackle climate change.Together at London Fashion Week, the two brought their message to light, with Lily proving again that she is more than just a model.

Although the connection of supporting "climate refugees" and the message of stopping the amount of waste of resources might be a little difficult for some people to see, there's no doubt it got people thinking.

Lily Cole was a natural ally for Ms. Westwood's "Climate Change" agenda, having been outspokenly eco-conscious for some time.

From Ecouterre back in 2011:

British model-actress Lily Cole thinks that the term “sustainable fashion” is oxymoronic, but only in the sense of “fashion” meaning trends. And it’s not a problem that’s unique to the clothing industry, either, she explains to The Guardian on Monday. “I mean, the fact that there’s already a second iPad out now is ‘fashion’, in a similar way,” she says. “I don’t think this is fashion’s fault. It’s a broader issue to do with the capitalism, and an economy which needs us to keep buying, and creating this superfluous kind of waste.”

I would have to say I had never connected Andersen's Red shoes directly with wasting eco-resources but it makes sense. Having had this brought to my attention, I now feel as if my brain was missing the obvious "next step" of HCA's warnings against materialism. The greed - and consequences - of wanting a thing at the cost of everything (and everyone) else, is pretty clear in his story. Your actions, while immediately hurting some and eventually hurting others, do, ultimately come back to you as well. The proverb, "you reap what you sow" (a concept Andersen would have known well, being Christian-minded) holds true.

Lily takes a bow in red shoes

It's interesting to see one of the world's leading designers have such "eco-consciousness". Fashion is said to be frivolous but really clothing (and how we choose to wear what we do) is much more than that. It's image, armor and expression and, being aware of what we consume (which applies directly to clothes and fashion) says a lot about how we consider our place in the world.

Nicely done Ms. Westwood and Ms. Cole. I have a feeling that although Andersen would have been surprised at the interpretation/use of his story, he would have been humbled as well - and possibly have applauded quite loudly too. :)

Note: I have seen small excerpts of Ms. Cole's interpretive dance on YouTube but nothing very substantial. There are video links (supposedly) embedded in the Daily Mail article (excerpt above) but I couldn't get them to play.

On a related note (with regard to working against the destructive tendencies of materialism, as illustrated in HCA's Red Shoes and helping each other be better) Lily Cole is one of those unique celebrities who's very interested and active in promoting the best of the world and of humanity, both in looking after the planet and in looking after each other. Her new altruistic social network IMPOSSIBLE (a play on I'm Possible) is an intriguing new program and attempt at encouraging a "gift culture", leaving money out of it altogether (even her developers and company people are working on this as their "gift" to the world, without monetary compensation). If you're interested in finding out more about her initiative you can see a video explaining it HERE (it's long but very interesting) and the newly launched app is HERE.

Google's 'Flipbook' Logo Tribute to Hans Christian Andersen

Please forgive the delayed news but it's worth a post for two reasons:

1) Hans Christian Andersen's 205th birthday was on Friday and Google had a special logo up all day to celebrate it and
2) It was a brand new style - a 'flipbook' logo which, when you clicked on the image/arrow went to another image, telling you the story of Thumbelina in Google logo form (all five are shown in order in this post).
Here's an excerpt from the story in Christian Science Monitor on April 2nd:

Google has made an institution out of swapping out its company logo for a special nod to great minds of the past. Today, it celebrated the 205th birthday of Hans Christian Andersen, the Danish author of "The Little Mermaid," "The Emperor's New Clothes," and "The Ugly Duckling."

But rather than stick to a single novelty image, Google chose five.

Google's tribute to Hans Christian Andersen riffs off his story of "Thumbelina." The tale revolves around a tiny girl that was born from a flower and sleeps in a walnut cradle. But to capture the twists and turns of Thumbelina's adventure, Google created a five-part image gallery, which users can advance by clicking the on the logo. It begins with itty-bitty Thumbelina amid her family's knitting tools. Next, we see the frog and mole that each try to marry her. Once she escapes the frog that kidnapped her, she must hide from a harsh winter, depicted in the third slide. Then, after gliding on the back of a bird (image four), she finds a miniature prince (the final picture).

The pair lives happily ever after, but what is Google's next move? This flipbook style is new to Google doodles. It's a clever yet understated way of honoring a story that's more about the wild journey than any individual scene.

How cool is that? Plus, new Thumbelina illustrations, yay!
I love that fairy tales were involved in another first. Thumbelina is a great choice too, as Andersen's birthday falls on the Easter weekend this year and I think of Thumbelina as a 'Spring' fairy tale, which, apart from the religious celebrations, is what Easter (or Eostar or Oestre, a.k.a. the Spring Equinox holiday) is about.

Fairy Tale News New Year's Bumper Edition: Blog posts and/or articles discussing/using fairy tales

• Fairy Tale Survival Guide plus tips for self-rescuing princesses blogged by author Danyelle Leafty at Myth-takes

Rapunzel by Steering for North

• Which fairy tale will spawn a new princess next? Article from the LA Weekly which discusses four fairy tales not yet touched by Disney and how they would be 'Disneyfied' (i.e. what the Disney version might end up like) if they were chosen for a new 'princess film'. Article could have used a spell check (or just a read through) for mistakes but otherwise is interesting and quite amusing. Fairy tales discussed are: The Rose Elf (Andersen), Godfather Death (Grimm), The Red Shoes (Andersen). The Maiden Without Hands (Grimm).
  

Godfather Death by Lefler & Urban

• Hidden Personality - Bluebeard. One of many excellent student guest posts at the Diamonds & Toads blog (the post was an assignment). I particularly love this one on Bluebeard. Well researched with interesting thinking, clear writing and a great read. Perfect companion to the Bluebeard photoshoot I've also pointed you toward today under General Headlines.

Bluebeard by Gustav Dore

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BACK TO: CONTENTS

Stories for the Season: Snow Queen

Poster for Sherman Cymru's production of "The Snow Queen"
by Savage & Gray Design

One of the obvious stories for the season is "The Snow Queen", despite Christmas not being a featured part of the story. Andersen's long-form fairy tale has grown in increasing popularity (again) the past few years with more and more plays and ballets being staged specifically during the Christmas season, providing an alternate to the traditional Nutcracker production (companies staging Snow Queen are likely to be doing Nutcracker too, to keep their regulars happy though).

English National Ballet's 2009 Production of "The Snow Queen"

It's easy to see why it's quickly become a family holiday theater favorite. The story has remained popular throughout the years and there are many wonderful elements to work with for any form of presentation.

I have to say, that though many people include The Snow Queen when you ask about Christmas fairy tales it's not the whole 'Snow Queen steals Kai away and Gerda rescues him from the Queen and the Ice Palace' that makes me include it too. It's the sequence with the robber girl and the reindeer. Though those characters only appear for one of the chapters in Gerda's long journey to find and free Kai, to me it's the most 'Christmas' part with the robber girl maturing and learning to be a true friend and, in the end, helping Gerda escape, along with the generous gift (and letting go) of her pet/captive reindeer. The reindeer itself helps the Christmas sense too, of course.I won't go into the story too much as SurLaLune just had a Snow Queen week (see HERE) and showcased some gorgeous retellings , while The Fairy Tale Cupboard posted a fabulous article on The Queens of Ice and Snow (see HERE). There are a couple of other Snow Queen things I'd like to bring to your attention as additional resources.

Firstly, HERE is an article by a teacher of children's literature on the difficulties of teaching on the story and her fascination with the Andersen tale since childhood, which some of you will find interesting.

I also haven't yet seen anyone post on the made-for-TV movie Snow Queen (produced by Hallmark), so I wanted to mention it too. It's a very nice retelling of the story (gorgeous artistic direction!) with Gerda having to travel through the seasons to find Kai. In this version Kai is a boy/young man Gerda meets as a girl on the brink of womanhood. The robber girl isn't represented the same way as the original story or in books I've seen (and prefer) but the context for this movie makes sense. (I don't much care for the Summer sequences but that's very likely just my personal taste. I enjoy it again once Autumn appears, as inconsistent as the acting is in that section and the resolution of the movie is well done enough that I can forgive it trying to wrap up all the loose ends.) The power of love - especially true love, though mother's love is highlighted too - is the driving force of this retelling and is nicely handled.

By the way, if you've liked the Snow Queen illustrations in this post they're by award winning Ukranian artist Vadyslav Yerko and are available in a truly gorgeous looking book. You can see a preview HERE and find out more information about the book, the author (HCA of course) and the illustrator HERE.

There are just a few more stories I want to highlight before New Years, the idea being to give you plenty to enjoy if you're lucky enough to be getting any leisure time between Christmas and 2010, so keep watching. After that I will be taking a brief blog break to spend some time with both my family and my new books before I return with tons of news and fairy tale finds as usual. :)